BOZICH | Has Mike Woodson fixed Indiana's guard play? He says he has | Sports

BORDEN, Ind. (WDRB) — Trayce Jackson-Davis carried the Indiana University men’s basketball team to the NCAA Tournament during Mike Woodson’s first two seasons with the Hoosiers.

Woodson replaced Jackson-Davis with Kel’el Ware last winter. He put up big numbers. Ware projects to be taken higher in the 2024 NBA Draft than Jackson-Davis was selected in the 2023 Draft.

But Ware’s 15.9 points and 9.9 rebounds per game were not enough to get the Hoosiers within sniffing distance of the NCAA Tournament. IU labored to a 19-14 record and finished the season ranked as low as No. 91 in some computer metrics.

There were many reasons for that. But this reason belongs at the top of the list:

IU treated the three-point shot like it was a Class A Felony. The Hoosiers ranked 351st in the nation in percentage of points scored from the three-point line and 255th in three-point percentage. That is the profile of a team that will have no significant games to play in March.

Has Woodson gotten the message that guard play is paramount?

At an IU alumni and fan gathering of 800 or so people at Huber’s Winery Wednesday night, Woodson said that he has.

Skeptics will howl that Woodson said similar things last season. And perhaps the year before that.

On Wednesday night, Woodson advised the skeptics to take a long look at the work that he and his staff did in the transfer portal.

The Hoosiers landed a consensus top five class that includes three players who can create offense with the basketball and make a reasonable number of three-point shots.

“I've learned in this short period of time that I've been in college, you win with good guard play," he said. "It’s great to have big guys that can play and do the things that we've had over the last three years with our bigs that we've coached.

“But you win with perimeter and guard play. That was something that we came out of this past season, not having X (Xavier Johnson, IU's injured senior point guard) and the games that he missed, that we had to really amp up our backcourt and get better and I thought we've done that.”

The three players who need to fix Indiana’s broken guard play are Myles Rice, a point guard from Washington State; Kanaan Carlyle, a combo guard from Stanford; and Luke Goode, a wing from Illinois.

Goode projects to be Indiana’s most dynamic three-point shooter since James Blackmon. He made nearly 39% (61 of 157) for Illinois last season. Goode shot better than 37% from distance for three consecutive seasons for the Illini.

Carlyle made at least a pair of threes in 10 games for Stanford last season but finished 32 of 100 from distance.

Rice is the toughest sell. His three-point shooting percentage was only 27.5 (36 of 131) but he was voted the Pac-12 freshman of the year for his ability to direct his team into the NCAA Tournament.

Make a note of this. Those three guys combined to make 129 threes last season. Woodson’s entire team made only 166.

Outside observers have noticed. The addition of those three guards, plus Arizona center Oumar Ballo to returning players like Malik Reneau, Mackenzie Mgbako and Trey Galloway have made the Hoosiers a consensus Top 25 pick in four pre-season projections.

The Hoosiers are No. 16 at ESPN; 21 with On3 Sports; 15 at Fox Sports and No. 18 CBS Sports.

What Ballo does will be important. What Rice, Carlyle and Goode do will be critical.

“When we sat down after the season in terms of evaluating players that entered the portal, that was going to be an emphasis on players that we brought back here from a perimeter standpoint,” Woodson said.

“And these two guys (Rice and Carlyle) are capable of making plays off the bounce. So they're capable of making plays for their teammates and they're capable putting the ball in the hole.

“And they're young players (sophomores). I mean, if things don't go big and according to plan, then, you know, all these guys dreams are playing in the NBA. And if that doesn't happen, then you hopefully you got them back for another year or two.

“That's kind of how we approached that I when we stepped out to recruit these guys. So I'm pleased with with the guys that we brought in, I just got to put it to work now and get them ready to play.”